Tenants, neighbours and supporters gathered outside an apartment block, at 50-52 Warren Road, Marrickville, on August 24, to protest a proposed redevelopment that would reduce the amount of affordable rentals on the site.
The action coincided with the Land and Environment Court’s onsite conciliation hearing as the landlord tries to appeal the Inner West Council’s rejection of their development application.
Speakers pointed out that even after the landlord revised their DA, to address objections, it still fails to meet the community’s expectations.
Rod Aanensen from the Marrickville Heritage Society spoke about the art deco building’s unique history, having originally been built as two Victorian villas in 1887. Over the years it was conjoined and converted into apartments, and has been the home of NSW parliamentarians, teachers and suffragettes.
Architect Eddie Ma raised concerns about the new proposal’s poor livability, including the lack of solar access, visual privacy, cross-ventilation and appropriate communal space. He said many of the proposed apartments are south not north facing, adding that it “focuses on maximising unit numbers and sellable area and does not meet even the minimum design quality expected to be delivered under contemporary planning law”.
Neighbours voiced their concerns about the eight-storey development overshadowing their back yards and the loss of privacy. The proposed building would tower over the neighbouring single-storey houses, a stark contrast to the current two-storey building.
The current block has 17 low-rent units. The proposed development would have only 14 “affordable” units out of 43 in total, and almost all of those would revert to full market rates after 15 years.
The two permanently affordable studio units would merely meet the minimum 2% of floor space required under the NSW government’s Transport Oriented Development scheme.
Organisations and communities across the state have criticised the state’s ambitious housing plan for failing to genuinely address affordability, instead providing yet another boon for private investors and speculators.
Tenants expressed their concern at the loss of their affordable homes and the difficulties they would face if evicted in a housing crisis.
“We are in a housing affordability crisis, rents are already high,” Duncan Roden said. “You've probably seen reports of rents rising by 30% in response to the recent tax changes. It will be even more difficult for me and my neighbours to find suitable housing again if we're evicted from here.
“It's so important that, if this development does go ahead, it should be required to have at least the same number of affordable units that currently exist here, if not more.”
Roden also said if tenants are evicted, they need to be given assistance to find new affordable homes. “We shouldn’t just be tossed out onto an already impossible rental market. Under the amended proposal, it is unclear whether such assistance will be given to all the tenants if we are evicted. It's also unclear what kind of assistance we would receive.
“The big increases in housing that are planned by state and local governments will require many evictions over coming years. I’m worried that, if this development is approved, it will set a bad precedent for all of those upcoming evictions and redevelopments. We need more housing, but it must be affordable and it must be done in a way that respects tenants and local communities.”
After experts gave evidence in court the following day, the matter has been adjourned to September 28.